[STEAM] Warner Bros. Cancels Wonder Woman Game, Closes Three Studios

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WB San Diego, according to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier.

Schreier

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, followed by the

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. Shortly after Schreier's post, WB

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:

We have had to make some very difficult decisions to structure our development studios and investments around building the best games possible with our key franchises -– Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones. After careful consideration, we are closing three of our development studios – Monolith Productions, Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games San Diego. This is a strategic change in direction and not a reflection of these teams or the talent that consists within them. The development of Monolith’s Wonder Woman videogame will not move forward. Our hope was to give players and fans the highest quality experience possible for the iconic character, and unfortunately this is no longer possible within our strategic priorities. This is another tough decision, as we recognize Monolith’s storied history of delivering epic fan experiences through amazing games. We greatly admire the passion of the three teams and thank every employee for their contributions. As difficult as today is, we remain focused on and excited about getting back to producing high-quality games for our passionate fans and developed by our world class studios and getting our Games business back to profitability and growth in 2025 and beyond. Earlier this year, another Bloomberg report suggested

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after rebooting and switching directors in early 2024. This came amid larger struggles at the company's gaming division, including

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, the lukewarm reception to

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and the

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.

And even more recently, WB Games has appeared to undergo a restructuring of sorts, as long-time games head David Haddad

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and

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.

Specifically, this move represents a blow to WB's DC universe-connected gaming efforts. Notably, just yesterday, James Gunn and Peter Safran

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that it would be "a couple of years" before the first DCU video game.

With this closure, the games industry loses three incredibly storied studios. Monolith Productions, which had been working on Wonder Woman, was founded in 1994 and acquired by WB in 2004. It's best-known for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel, Shadow of War, the former of which pioneered the lauded Nemesis system that

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Player First Games, a newer studio established in 2019, was responsible for MultiVersus. The game was well-received critically and

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, but

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. WB San Diego, similarly, is a newer studio established in 2019 with a focus on mobile, free-to-play games.

These shutdowns continue a trend going back roughly three years of increasing games industry layoffs, project cancellations, and studio closures. In 2023 alone, it's

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. That number shot up to

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, and while

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, the exact number of impacted individuals is hazier due to fewer companies reporting these layoffs and shutdowns, or specific numbers affected.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].

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